How to get clients to trust you with their finances? Skill, savvy, and skirtsuits, says this NYC investment analyst

Is personal style possible in a business old-fashioned enough to require sheer stockings, the ultimate "office-appropriate" throwback? For Susan McEvoy, a senior analyst at the New York City office of investment firm Hirtle, Callaghan & Co., corporate chic is ladylike but never matchy-matchy; feminine but not fussy. "We're not dealing with hobby money—it's serious money," McEvoy says. "I need to show I'm professional, I'm serious about my job, but I can do it with personality." McEvoy is "not into men's suits tailored for women"; she favors skirtsuits in touchable textures (velvet, satin, lace) by built-to-last designers such as Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, and Chanel. Her standby accessories? Cuffs by Stephen Dweck and Hermès, Lagos earrings, a bow-festooned Valentino bag—and the requisite hosiery. "At the ELLE shoot, we decided I'm bringing sheer stockings back!" she says with a laugh.